Unlike recent ads launched by other campaigns, the 30-second spot promoting the Nashville lawmaker wasn’t technically funded by Harwell's campaign. And it doesn't mention her candidacy.

As is the case with all political ads, the spot includes a disclosure about its funding source: Tennesseans for Good State Government. Also listed is Troy Brewer, the political action committee’s treasurer.

A USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee review of documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission indicates the PAC has paid more than $175,000 to run 415 ads on television stations in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. The ads are slated to continue running through early to mid-March.

The total spent on the ad buy is likely to increase, as several stations have yet to make public disclosures, including how many ads were bought and the amount they cost.

Despite the Harwell campaign not funding the ad, Tennesseans for Good State Government has ties to the speaker, raising questions about coordination.

Harwell is an officer of the PAC, which started in 2006. Until mid-December, Tennesseans for Good State Government was named Harwell PAC.

In January 2016, the PAC contributed $10,000 to one of Harwell’s other political action committees.

Further, the organization’s registration with the state’s campaign finance office lists Harwell’s home address and Brewer’s name as the treasurer.

State law permits coordination between candidates and PACs, said Drew Rawlins, executive director of state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance.

When initially asked whether Harwell's campaign was involved with creation of the ad, a spokeswoman said she "knew nothing about the ads."

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The issue of whether Harwell's campaign was technically involved in the creation of the ad is significant.

PACs do not face limits on how much money they can spend if it is in the form of an independent expenditure.

But if the ad was done in "cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate, the candidate's political campaign committees or their agents" then the PAC would face campaign contribution limits.

PACs are limited to $11,800 in contributions in both the primary and general election.

Campaign finance officials would be the arbiter of whether the ad is considered an independent expenditure or a contribution.

In a separate email, Beth Fortune, who is working on Harwell's campaign, provided a statement from Austin McMullen, legal adviser to the PAC.

"State law allows for the PAC to be used for the work of the speaker, including communication with the citizens of Tennessee," McMullen said.

He noted that state law prohibits ads from expressly advocating for or against an individual candidate.

"Since this ad does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, it is within the law and not subject to the additional restrictions," McMullen said.

The ad, which features a series of people holding up signs touting Harwell’s accomplishments, ends with a message from the Republican.

“Under my leadership as speaker of the House, we have accomplished a lot for Tennessee and the signs are everywhere,” Harwell says, while standing from the speaker’s podium in the lower chamber.

"Beth means business," a narrator says at the end of the ad. "Beth Harwell — conservative reform for Tennessee.

Rawlins said no statute enforced by his office prohibits Harwell from appearing on the House podium in the ad.

"Much of her work is done in the House chamber, which is open to the public as the People’s House," McMullen said. "Naturally it made sense to include Speaker Harwell in this setting, since so much of what she has done for Tennesseans occurred on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Harwell is the only candidate seeking the Republican nomination for governor who has yet to run television ads from her campaign. U.S. Rep. Diane Black, Knoxville entrepreneur Randy Boyd and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee have each had ads on the TV stations in recent weeks and are planning to have more placements.